Annoyingly Confusing

I'm sure the filmmakers meant well, and this picture has decided strengths: splendid acting, gorgeous photography, pleasantly appropriate set design, moody, atmospheric sound.

One problem I have with it is it's relentless good taste. All these polite, pleasant, yet cold people who you just know have never and never will laugh, embrace, fart, or do anything that normal human beings do. By the end, I was so awash in pastel genteelity I wanted to throw up.

But apart from that, it's almost literally impossible to understand what's going on most of the time. Divergent timelines that we have to take as running in the *same* time frame, in areas that are hundreds of miles apart, but which look identical, a whole gaggle of characters that share similar experiences and who even resemble each other physically to an extent, some may be or may not be adopted, etc., back to the future, who's on first? Please!

David O Selznick once said to prospective filmmakers that the worst thing you can do is to *confuse* your audience.
Still good advice.